Its funny how everyone thinks this contract is so great....while Boldy got basically the same deal, while a lot of people liked the Boldy deal there was a ton of people that disliked it....I don't get it.

Building through the Draft and locking up young stars on long term contracts. Very smart. BUF is back.

Thompson and cozens now, I'm super jealous

great contract to allow him to improve even more and prove hes worth 7.1mil

With the Samuelsson, Tage and Cozens long term deals, Buffalo is signalling they’re actually going to contend and dish out the money now, time will tell if they can finally get back to the playoffs and go far

They'll be fine

This is going to age like fine wine, quote me on that.

I’ll admit I know Cozens a lot better than Boldy, so there is definitely bias here. Cozens plays C, which is more important if the players are equally skilled. Cozens also has more points so far this season, while playing with 2 rookies on his line. He has great transition numbers, and very good two way play. Despite carrying 2 rookies on his line, Cozens is still a +3, whereas Boldy is a -5, second worst on his team. Again, I don’t know Boldy as well, but Cozens is out-producing him, and likely is better in his own zone/transition.

This is huge for the Sabres. What a contract. Can't believe Cozens signed this.

cozens is more experienced and a better player right now so

Dylan signs for 71.

Hmm.

Wasn’t expecting this

It's pretty much market value. 7x7 vs 8x8 for star RFAs coming off of their ELCs.

With all the uncertainty over the salary cap, a bridge deal is pretty risky for anybody other than a franchise player. Better to secure the bag now.

He might regret the deal with his trajectory, but he didn't leave much money on the table compared to what most players sign for.

Great job by the Sabres to have 2 young top 6 centres locked up for under 14 million long term. Adams has been killing it as of late

It's a gamble but I was wrong on Tage.

Ok this is nice, but still won't be top 3 in the Atlantic and the wildcard is just as hard to win.

This is the reason why the Nhl needs to expand to 20 playoff teams. Top 6 in the Conference get a bye week while 4 wildcard teams play a quick best out of 3 games playoff qualifying series to determine the final 2 spots in the 1st Rd.

It's cap friendly baby we're all either stupid or nerds
Or both

This would already be a steal if he were making that this year.

This would be the 78th-highest contract in the league this year. Cozens is 67th in points currently.

I could pull out my usual “one good season” comment, but as a high draft pick who’s still only 21 (for a couple more days), I see no reason to think he won’t continue on his current trajectory. The alternative would be to try to sign him to a bridge deal, but that could easily cost them more in the long run. It’s a lot of money but I think this has a good chance of working out very well for the team.

NO!!!! It took us decades to get to the point where only half of the teams make the playoffs. We finally have a league where teams have to work hard all season to get in. That’s the way it should be. No more free passes. The Sabres will get in soon. It may even be this year.

The problem isn’t that there aren’t enough teams in the playoffs. It’s that 3 of the 5 best teams in the league are in the same division, and 6 of the best 7 are in the same conference. If I was going to modify the playoff system, I’d look at trying to work in more cross-over possibilities.

Everything's been coming up millhouse for the Sabres upon beating Eichel to the curb. Kinda love to see it.

cool story bro

A steal after one half og a good season... If he continues like this then i would say it could be a steal this year already... This can be a good deal and also it can still be a bad deal for the team.

You can say this about every single contract ever signed, saying "it could be bad" is redundant, because every contract carries that exact risk. GMs used to (some still do this a lot.. cough... Lou... cough) want to wait for longer track records before a player can be paid, but due to aging curves, by the time a player "earned" a long contract, they were at an age that they almost certainly couldn't live up to that contract going forward.

Cozens has developed very nicely, was a high draft pick, so he didn't come out of nowhere, and in Buffalo, he isn't being carried by line mates. His underlying numbers support that he's actually driving the value of his production, and based on his age, you are buying the years that are most likely to be his most valuable. Given UFAs are getting on the open market still, his production doesn't need to be elite to justify his contract, and if we haven't yet seen his best, this is a mega steal.

There is still risk in this deal, like every contract, but this is a very smart bet, and the type of bet that if you make it over and over, you are going to come up with far more winners than losers.

Oh I get it there is definitely bias on this site. And to be fair I don't know a whole lot about Cozens I just find it funny how many people ripped the Boldy deal compared to this one. IMO both are good young players and will probably out preform these contracts. But I would argue that while Cozens is playing with two rookies Boldy isn't exactly playing with McDavid either last year he had Fiala for half a year, and while his +/- isn't great this year he is still better then Cozens then over his 96 games played with a higher PPG then Cozens for their respective careers so far..

From the Athletic: